Health Care
Defining fetal viability among GOP priorities after Missourians overturn abortion ban
The day he was sworn in as speaker of the Missouri House, Jon Patterson declared that defining fetal viability could be a difficult task. A surgeon serving his fourth term in the legislature, Patterson said despite the vagueness of the medical phrase, the decision by voters to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban means lawmakers have no […]
New Missouri rule tries to protect mail-order medications from extreme cold and heat
If your mail-order prescription landed in a pile of snow on your doorstep last week, you may want to proceed with caution. Pharmacists warn that extreme temperatures — cold or hot — can change the chemical makeup of medicine, often making it less effective. But medicine coming through the mail in overheated UPS trucks or […]
Regulator accuses drug middlemen of wild price hikes, possibly steering business to themselves
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday released an interim report saying that powerful drug middlemen marked up drugs for cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other serious maladies far over the going rate — as much as a thousand percent over the going rate in 22% of instances. The upcharges provided $7.3 billion in additional revenue […]
No need to provide an avian flu vaccine for humans yet, expert says
An infectious disease expert says the relatively mild cases of avian influenza detected so far among dairy workers don’t warrant making a vaccine available to them, even as they work to contain and prevent spread of the contagious virus among herds. Dr. Shira Doron, an epidemiologist and chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine in […]
As demand for weight-loss drugs rises, states grapple with Medicaid coverage
Over her three-decade career, weight management physician Dr. Sarah Ro has seen hundreds of patients. Many of them are on Medicaid and have become yo-yo dieters who, despite their best efforts at changing their eating habits and lifestyles, cannot seem to shed the pounds hurting their health. “They have a tremendous amount of disease burden,” […]
Missouri senator renews push to ban shackling of pregnant women in city, county jails
Seven years ago, Missouri banned the shackling of pregnant women in state prisons. State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, is hoping to expand the law this year to include city and county jails. “Now we have seven years of data that this is a fairly small number of inmates and it is […]
Missouri town rejects initial anti-abortion push to become ‘sanctuary city for the unborn’
Less than a month after a state constitutional amendment legalizing abortion went into effect, a national movement to establish pockets of resistance is dividing one Missouri town. Rolla, a town of about 20,000 people that sits 100 miles southwest of St. Louis, is being courted by Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, an anti-abortion activist group […]
Kansas City’s new Wellness Court to help those with mental health disorders, addiction
The 30-year-old son of Jolene Davis ambles out of the courtroom ahead of her. He’s carrying a backpack containing his clothes and a plastic grocery bag with a blanket. “Why you crying?” he asks her. Happy tears, she reassures. Her son appeared before a Jackson County Circuit Court judge and agreed his mother should be […]
Junk food and drug use cut into life expectancy gains for states
After large drops during the pandemic, life expectancy in the United States should recover to 2019 levels this year nationally and in 26 states — but not as fast as it should compared with similar countries, according to a new study. Bad habits such as junk food, smoking and illicit drug use are preventing longer […]
Teen dads need support. A new Kansas City program guides them through fatherhood
Tyreque Carter held his 2-month-old son, outfitted in a festive Christmas onesie, as he congratulated another soon-to-be teen father on his gender reveal: a girl. They were among several students at DeLaSalle High School in Kansas City who filed into their seats as they chatted about ultrasound photos and dirty diapers. The group of teens, […]
Missouri judge strikes down abortion ban, but clinics say access remains blocked
A Missouri judge on Friday temporarily struck down several laws that Planned Parenthood clinics have said made access to abortion all but impossible across the state. Among the laws Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang blocked include a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion and a mandate that physicians performing abortions have admitting privileges at nearby […]
How America lost control of the bird flu, setting the stage for another pandemic
Keith Poulsen’s jaw dropped when farmers showed him images on their cellphones at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in October. A livestock veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin, Poulsen had seen sick cows before, with their noses dripping and udders slack. But the scale of the farmers’ efforts to treat the sick cows stunned […]